Apparatus and method for transmission and receipt of conference call roster information via a telephone display unit

Abstract

An apparatus and method is disclosed that allows a participant in a conference call to receive conference call roster information at a telephone display unit, at a computer display or at both types of display. The conference call information is updated during the call and includes identification of the speaker during a conference call. The conference callers are connected together and identified either by standard caller identification or by other identification provided by the operator. The conference callers' identifications are then transmitted in two ways. First, a coded signal is sent over the telephone connection to a telephone display unit. Second, an information packet is transmitted over the Internet to a conference call participant's computer. A server computer monitors the conference call and the identification of parties involved is updated a and parties are added or disconnected. The speaking party is identified in one of two ways. First, during the call, the speaker's telephone line will have a higher transmission amplitude than the other telephone lines and the line with the highest transmission amplitude will be identified by the server computer. Second, voice identification data is gathered before the conference call and stored in the server computer for use in identifying the speaker.

Description

FIELD OF INVENTIONThe present invention generally relates to identification of parties in a telephone conversation and specifically to an apparatus and method for identifying and indicating the speaker during a multiple party telephone conversation.CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONSThis application is related to the following concurrently filed applications: “Apparatus and Method for Transmission and Receipt of Conference Call Roster Information via the Internet” and “Apparatus and Method for Providing Conference Call Information with Speaker Voice Identification.”BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONCaller Identification (Caller ID) enables telephone conference caller particpands to identify a caller before picking up the telephone. Caller ID is useful when the caller does not identify himself and immediately begins a conversation. Caller ID has solved the problem of awkwardly interrupting a telephone conversation in order to identify the other party involved. However, Caller ID cannot ...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

However, Caller ID cannot identify the speaking party where there are multiple party telephone conversations, such as during a conference call.

Due to increased travel costs and the cost of office space, conference call meetings have increased in popularity.

During the conference call, it is often difficult to identify the speaker at any given time.

Interrupting the conference call to identify the speaker is not preferable as it disrupts the flow of the conference call.

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